The city's annual Veterans Day parade, which stepped out in exceptionally pleasant weather yesterday, culminated with a rededication ceremony 50 years to the day that the 9th Infantry Division Association Memorial at Immaculate Conception Church on Grove Street was dedicated.

The 9th Infantry Division was the outfit in which many people from Worcester and the Northeast who volunteered or were drafted in World War II, and later during the Vietnam War, were assigned to serve in, said William Sauers, treasurer of the 9th Infantry Division Association. It lost 4,581 soldiers during World War II. At least 250 were killed in Vietnam.

Mr. Sauers, who lives in Torrance, Calif., lost his father, an Ohioan who served with the 9th Infantry, in March 1945.

The division was proudly known as “The Old Reliables,” fighting in North Africa, Tunisia and Sicily, helping to cut off the French Peninsula during the battle of Normandy, fighting through Belgium, and being among the first to set foot on German soil.

The idea for a memorial came from the late Rev. Edward T. Connors, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church from 1952 to 1980. Mr. Sauers told the hundred or so people gathered by the memorial on the grounds of the church for the rededication yesterday that Rev. Connors also served in World War II as a chaplain for the 9th Infantry Division and was decorated for bravery.

The first dedication took place on Nov. 11, 1962. “This is unique,” Mr. Sauers said of the memorial, which has a mosaic mural and the bold inscription “God Rest The Souls Of Our Beloved Dead.” There is a stone monument to the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Bragg, but Mr. Sauers said, “As far as I'm concerned this is our national association's official memorial.”

The rededication program included remarks by Mayor Joseph M. Petty and City Manager Michael V. O'Brien. Relatives of members of the 9th who died in World War II were also in attendance.

Veterans Day activities, which began several hours earlier, included the annual pancake breakfast at Veterans Inc., 69 Grove St., near where the parade would begin. Veterans Inc. offers an array of services, as well as a shelter for veterans. Many in the packed dining area would shortly walk the parade route, but some were going to pass on marching, this year at least.

Vincent Perrone, 86, of Worcester, whose son, Vincent Perrone is president and CEO of Veterans Inc., wasn't going to do the route, but he was one of the many at the breakfast sharing stories.

Mr. Perrone said he volunteered to serve with the 10th Mountain Division in World War II, which saw fierce fighting in Italy. “I was a young boy. I was scared,” he acknowledged. He said he lost two very close friends from Worcester in a subsequent battle he did not take part in — the Battle of the Bulge. At Veterans Day commemorations, he said, “Everything comes back.”

His son said more than the usual number of people came back for the breakfast. “It's one of the busiest ones we've had in quite some time,” he said. “We've had a very good group come in sitting here and talking all morning long, telling stories to each other. They're all strangers, pretty much. And then all of a sudden they're family.”

The parade itself had quite a youthful look, with ROTC units from several Worcester schools taking part, including from South High Community School, North High School and Burncoat Senior High School. Several local veterans posts and organizations also participated.

The parade route was Grove Street from just past Salisbury Street to Immaculate Conception Church.

One veteran of Veterans Day parades recalled that last year the weather was bitterly cold. At the start of the parade at 11 a.m. yesterday, it was windy but sunny. Temperatures would eventually climb to 60 degrees.

Among the sights along the parade, which lasted about 45 minutes, Ladders 2 and 4 of the Worcester Fire Department formed an arch draped by a U.S. flag as marchers passed by Fire Department headquarters. At some points on Grove Street, people had positioned themselves to watch the parade, whether standing or sitting on chairs they had brought along.

Karen R. Greenwood, the city veterans' agent and Veterans Services director, said she saw more people lining the streets this year.

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